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By Tom Rakauskas

The sudden resignation of Celtics head coach Jim O'Brien was shocking. Not the actual resignation, but the timing of it. Had you taken a poll, most people would have guessed that it would have taken O'Brien until at least the offseason to decide that he had had enough of Celtics' President Danny Ainge. Instead, late Tuesday afternoon, O'Brien decided that he could no longer go along with Ainge's philosophies on how the team should be run and quit.

The signs of strife had been there from the beginning. At his inaugural press conference as the President of the Boston Celtics, Danny Ainge made it clear that he was not impressed with the way the team played and changes were in store, despite recent success. As he held this press conference, dressing down the team, the Celtics were trying to prepare for a playoff game against the New Jersey Nets. The Celtics promptly went out and were run off the floor.

Ainge has said from the beginning that he would like for the team to take a more run-and-gun, open and fast break style of offense. Coach O'Brien has no problem running, but he seems content to use the fast break as an occasional weapon, not an all the time option.

The two also repeatedly differed on personnel decisions, first with Ainge nearly letting O'Brien favorite Walter McCarty walk away during the offseason. It was only after a public outcry did Ainge change his tune and bring back fan favorite Waltah. Ainge also needed convincing that Mark Blount should be brought back, despite being who O'Brien calls the key to the team's defense.

Then Antoine Walker was traded. This was another move in which the timing did not make sense. If Ainge had been planning to trade Walker the entire time, and all indications are that he had been, then why wait until a week before the season started? Why not do it earlier and give the new players the entire training camp to get their act together? Or better still, why not wait until the NBA trading deadline in February, when players in the last year of their deals are at the most valuable? Even now we're hearing Antoine Walker's name being brought up in trade talks, possibly to Portland for Rasheed Wallace.

Moreover, Walker and O'Brien had a history going all the way back to their days at Kentucky and O'Brien is extremely loyal to his players. I doubt he was high on trading his second best player. But it was not only the fact that Walker was shipped out but who was brought in that raised a few eyebrows. O'Brien makes no secret that he thinks defense first, last and at all points in between, and Raef LaFrentz is not known as an inside presence - which is why he was being shopped by Dallas in the first place. Add to that the fact that there were questions about LaFrentz's knee and the move has even more question marks.

The next to go were Eric Williams, Kedrick Brown and Tony Battie for Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm and Yogi Stewart. This could have been the final straw. Again, the move was done with some questionable timing, as the Celtics had just won 5 in a row to climb back into the race in the Eastern Conference. You could justify the trade by saying that the Celtics got the best player in the deal, but the trade represented more than just the bodies switching uniforms. It represented a complete change in philosophy. Williams and Battie may have been the team's best two defenders and their exit from town proved that while O'Brien may value defense, Ainge does not. (It should be noted that assistant coach Dick Harter, brought in solely to help players with their defense, also left the team.) To watch O'Brien at the press conference following the trade you would have thought he was a kid who had just lost his favorite toy. Williams was O'Brien's voice in the locker room, the picture of a professional athlete and vocal team leader, while Ricky Davis had a history of being a locker room distraction. So far, Davis has been the model citizen, but he has not shown that he is capable of doing the little things to win the way Williams did.

The way to use Davis has also been a point of contention. With Ainge wanting the Celtics to run more, it would make sense to have your most athletic player on the floor. But O'Brien will only play the players that he knows will play defense and work hard at practice. And so far, Davis hasn't been able to work his way into the Celtics starting line-up. Expect that to change with the departure of Jim O'Brien.

The biggest philosophical difference between the two may have had to do with the present versus the future of the Celtics. Ainge is about the future; O'Brien is about the here and the now. Ainge has repeatedly said that he regards this year as a step back for the franchise and that he could not fault O'Brien if the team struggled this season. That's why Ainge moved Walker (for cap room), why he had to have Jiri Welsh (as well as he has played this year just wait until next year, we're told), why he shipped out Williams and Battie (more cap room), put LaFrentz on the injured list (make sure he was completely ready come next year) and drafted the likes of high schooler Kendrick Perkins (clearly a project player). Everything in Ainge's eyes is geared towards next year, after the players had had time to gel together and the Celtics can use some of that cap room to go after a player in free agency.

But Jim O'Brien is as competitive as any man in basketball and he refused to look towards next year. During a radio interview last offseason, Jim O'Brien basically admitted that he also didn't enjoy the Celtics style of play and that he would like them to be less reliant on the three-point shot. But, at the same time he figured that with no inside presence it was the best chance they had to win and he would have rather won ugly than lost pretty.

The biggest knock on O'Brien has been that he in incapable of developing players, but that is because he won't put them on the floor in any game that he has a chance to win. If the game is close, Coach O'Brien wants players on the floor that he knows and trusts. Having a rookie in at crunch time could have cost the Celtics 4 or 5 games and those were games he simply refused to chance.

So, the question now is: where do the Celtics go from here? The season has been tough enough with Vin Baker's ongoing alcohol problems and the continual shuffle of players; a coaching change will only add to the chaos. Danny Ainge says that he has no desire to coach the Celtics, but Isaiah Thomas is saying the same thing about the Knicks. Ask them again in a year. Anyone want to guess the odds on their answers changing?

If Ainge is smart he will wait out the year, see what John Carroll can do and then make his decision in the offseason. Jim O'Brien rescued the Celtics from the clutches of Rick Pitino and the bottom of the Eastern Conference and brought them within two wins of the NBA Finals the very next year - he will be a tough act to follow. Despite the fact that Ainge has a better winning percentage (.602 to O'Brien's .539) this franchise already suffered through the President/Coach experiment with M.L. Carr and fans would be skeptical to see it again. Ainge was already booed when he attended the retirement ceremony for Cedric Maxwell, and if he comes out of the front office and onto the bench, he'll hear that message loud and clear.